and ask what happened. often they will tell you the truth. the truth is someone is giving the money to make contributions. it happens from time to time. it certainly happened during the clinton years. but i don't think it is a common problem and is not on a scale that you suggest. we're not talking about billions of dollars in any of those cases. it's really thousands or in the worst case, hundreds of thousands. the fact that it is notorious, but you know about them, is in some ways encouraging, because it means the transparency process that we have is working the way it should, that it's possible for people to find this out, and to monitor the process. it is in everybody's interest, in the opponent's interest, to make sure my opponent is following the rules just the way i am, so they look very closely. while there are some incentives and some ways in which bad actors can get involved in the process, i don't think it's a big problem. host: a final question, is this

the end of public financing as we see all this money coming into the campaigns? guest: absolutely, and with the program exists today. we will not see president of public funding in the same way ever again. the real question is whether congress wants to go back and look at that process and is either should be some kind of subsidy going fort. host: bob biersack, senior center for responsive politics. you can also look to opensecrets.org frustration about the campaigns. thanks for your time. guest: my pleasure. host: next, a look at the battleground state of iowa with a senior political writer, michael over. and we will check in with the iowa democratic chairman sue dvorsky, to look at democratic strategy is in that battleground state. we will be right back. >> we have a pretty simple proposition here. you can either embrace the kind

of approach that congresswoman wilson has embraced. she signed this pledged to support the cut, cap, and balance program. that is a tea party approach to balancing the budget. it has no new revenues even for the wealthiest of americans. it is so draconian that would require deep cuts in social security and medicare over time. or we can embrace a balanced approach. that's what i support. i think we can go back to the kind of tax rates we had under the clinton administration when the upper income earners were doing well and the entire economy was growing. we will have to make some tough choices. a balanced approach is the only approach i believe will get us there. >> your rebuttal? >> it's amazing to me that you can stand here having voted 4 trillion dollar deficits for the last of four years, the largest, fastest debt increase in american history and say we have to control spending. you've done nothing to control spending over the last four years.

with respect to cut, cap, and balance, it's amazing to me that the idea of cutting wasteful spending, capping the ability of congress to spend money we don't have, and balancing the budget is extreme. i think it would force congress to set priorities and stop funding things like solyndra and to prioritize things like social security, medicare, and education. that's why i support a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. >> the race to succeed retiring new mexico senator akaka is just one of the key house or senate government races you can follow on c-span.org. -- house, senate, and governor races. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are highlighting key battleground states of campaign 2012. today we put a spotlight on iowa. joining us from des moines is a senior political writer with the associated press, mike glover.

what is the economy like in the iowa? guest: the economy is probably better than the rest of the country. it's not great, but we have not suffered the depths of the recession that some other parts of the country have. the economy is less of an issue than it is in many other places around. basically because the farm economy is pretty good this year. commodity prices aren't up, land prices -- commodity prices are up as well as land prices. so there's not a lot of economic uncertainty. host: what are the top issues that iowa voters are thinking? guest: it depends on what group you are talking to. on the republican side, the topics they are talking about are the social issues. that's very important. it has driven republican politics in the state increasingly.

they care lot about social issues. they care a lot about those kinds of personal issues that drive voters. so that drives the republican electorate. on the democratic side, the things driving them, there's a desire to retain a democratic presence. so it's more pragmatic issues on the democratic side. host: how many electoral votes of the state have and how did it go in 2008? guest: 6. it went democratic four years ago. barack obama carried the state fairly easily. the polls are showing him with a lead of significance in this election. host: give us a sense of the demographics of the state's voters? who are we talking about? give us a sense of some key areas as we look at this map. guest: there are couple of key areas. first, let's look at eastern

iowa, davenport and the surrounding area, a couple hundred thousand people, it is a swing county. davenport is industrial, democratic. it will depend on turnout. if you go to the northwest corner -- corridor of the state, that is a role, very republican area. -- a rural. an area that is more or less evangelical christians, and they're not excited about mitt romney. they are republicans. he does not energized them. we will see what the turnout looks like in northwest iowa. those two areas, if we want the turnout in posted areas, it's very heavy in the quad cities, but good news the democrats.

it's very heavy in northwest iowa, but good for republicans. the central part of the states, including des moines, that democratic. we will watch the turnout. democrats have to come out of here with $10,000 plurality of voters in that county, the democratic part of the state. we will see what kind of "margin call, obama has here. host: voting systems in your state, how do you vote? guest: i voted two weeks ago. we have early voting and starts three weeks before the election. you can vote early. about one-third of the total votes cast will be cast before election day. a lot of the stuff that's happening right now in terms of trying to influence voters is wasted, because a lot of people have already voted. you can vote in your present before the election and then we

have -- we vote in precincts across the state in every corner of the state by machine. host: if there were any issues and a recount was necessary, how does that work in iowa? guest: we do have a procedure for a recount. if an election is within 2 percentage points, it's an automatic recount. you can petition for a recount if it if it is a little larger than that. so there's a possibility of a recount. we have never had that and it's never decided an election, but there are procedures in place to have a recount. we anticipate this election will be close enough for that could be an issue. host: the senate and house races, paint as a picture in your state of house races are shaping upper? -- up?

guest: the house races are interesting. we have two very interesting house races. there's been redistricting. we have had a couple incumbent members of the house. they are running against each other in a new third district in the central part of the state. so you have an incumbent republican and an incumbent democrat running against each other. every poll i've seen shows it's a very competitive race. it will come down to a wider. it will come down to a the wire. in the western part of the state, an incumbent is being challenged by kristen bell sack. it is a republican-leaning district, but she's a pretty strong candidate of, so that will be an interesting race. in the other two, we have to incumbent democrats who look

like they are probably going to win another term in congress. so we have to be interesting races anti a bill that look like they're shaping up to be pretty much as expected. host: mike glover, senior political writer at the associated press. we have a phone line for iowa residents. republicans can join us by calling -- as well as democrats -- and independents -- the des moines register came out with its endorsement on the weekend and got a lot of attention. guest:it endorse mitt romney. i tend to downplay newspaper endorsements. i will voters are traditionally very, very independent and make their own decisions. newspaper endorsements in this state don't have a lot of impact

on the outcome of an election. the des moines register is a large newspaper, the largest in the state, but i don't think that endorsement will make a lot of difference in the election. host: why do you think it got so much attention? tell us how it went back in 2008 and how this is a shift? guest: i think it was more of a focus on issues. i think the newspaper does look at issues, does look at the candidates' stands on issues, and does make a decision based on what they think will be the best for the long-term good of the state. however, voters in the state are very, very independent. they pride themselves on making their own decisions. newspaper endorsements traditionally don't make a lot of difference. i go back to a four years ago, the des moines register in the democratic primary endorsed hillary clinton just before the primary and barack obama buried

her in the primary. host: it endorse mitt romney during the prime area we are talking about the battleground states of iowa. carolas on the -- carol is on the democratic line. caller: i want to ask the gentleman what was his response when the man came out talking about the rape issue and our people in iowa taking that in, whether they even big about the fact that their daughters could be put in harm's way with somebody making a broad statement like that? guest: well, i think voters in the state take those kind of issues very seriously.

i think that any comment about that will have an effect on the campaign. this is a state where something like 80% of iowa residents are regular turn to attendees. about 80% of the state is injured somewhere or other on sunday mornings. so these type of issues tend to resonate with them. they have different views about them, but they care about them. so those issues have a lot of impact in iowa. i think that iowa voters tend to react on a gut level to those type of issues, but they do react. host: let's hear from marked in des moines on our independent line. -- from marc. caller: i've been watching the election closely and i would like to hear the politicians talk more about the issues instead of bad mouthing each other. i don't think it's very

presidential for obama to come across that way on tv. i will just wait for a response. thank you. guest: well, the candidates would say that talking about the negatives of their opponent is talking about issues that affect voters. but it has been a very even campaign. a very hard-fought campaign and a campaign where neither side is willing to give up an inch. i think what you will find, as we move into this new television-internet era is the candidates will not give an inch and they will not step back from attacking each other. you are going to find the candidates feel that they cannot let their opponent get an edge by beating up on them and they're not responding. so you are finding both candidates in this election, and

i think in the past couple elections, feel like they have to weigh in and bury their opponent in-television -- in negative television ads. i recall being on a campaign to a couple years ago and we went to the site of the lincoln douglas debates, which was held throughout illinois. there were held in parks throughout the central part of the state mainly. they would all happen on sundays and people would come out at and lincolnurkichurch would have an hour to give his position and then an hour for douglas and then lincoln would have an hour for rebuttal and then douglas would have an hour. if so they with and the entire afternoon having a picnic lunch at the park talking about issues. i kind of twist that would happen, but i cannot imagine any television network in

america is going to put up with a for your hours of candidates talking about issues. so i think we are reduced because of the way we depend on the media, reduced in the way we talk about issues. we are reduced in the way we can talk about it. part of it, it is a product of the media age in which we live and the way people have figured out how they can use that media. i don't think it's positive, i don't think it's good, but it is what people have concluded they have to do. host: let's look at an ad that president obama's campaign is running in battleground states including iowa. [video clip] >> which you believe, what mitt romney tv ads say about women or what mitt romney himself says? >> doh i believe the supreme court to overturn roe hafez al- assad wade? yes. it would be my preference that their reversal of the way it can and hopefully reversed it?

planned parenthood, we are going to get rid of that. cut off funding to planned parenthood. >> no matter what mitt romney does say, we know what he will do. >> i am barack obama and i approve this message. host: how much our ads like that one resonating in iowa? guest: that's a really big deal in iowa. barack obama, if you look at the polling data, he has built a pretty significant lead among women voters. these are issues women care a lot about. barack obama is directly addressing them, directly saying, if you want your rights as a woman to plan your own life, your rights as a woman, to table to assert yourself, you better vote for me, because mitt romney will rein in those rights. that issue resonates very strongly around iowa. women voters can make a difference in this election. if you look at polling, the voters isong male

pretty even. among women voters, barack obama has a pretty strong lead. this election in iowa and in many other states, i think, is going to be a turn out the game. can getan get thei -- who their voters to the polls on election day. barack obama, to say, i have a lead with women voters, so let's make sure we get them out on election day and let's give them a reason to show up. this is what he thinks is the reason women will show up and vote for employer. host: a story in the quad city times --

iowa is the focus of our conversation right now with my glover, a senior writer for the associated press. let's hear from david on our independent line in texas. caller: hello. i believe obama has no problem. this is the media just keeping the news going. i am in texas. i am over 60. out of my whole family there are two of us that have landlines. i get maybe 86 or so calls per month on my machine. -- 8 or calls. being in texas, hardly any troop question is going to vote for romney, who is a mormon.

he has no chance. host: let's get a response. are you seeing any of those concerns in iowa? guest: i can tell you this. i'm over 60 as well, so i understand that. we are getting phone calls in iowa. the issue of romney's religion is an issue i raised with him when he ran a pull your years ago and its initial history sensitive about man does not like to talk about. iowa republicans are dominated by evangelical christians. they are a bit leery of mormons. they don't understand it it. they don't like to talk about it. no one will say i am not excited about mitt romney because he's a mormon, but they are aware of it. so that is an issue. it goes more to not whether someone will support mitt romney or not support mitt romney but the enthusiasm level they will bring to the campaign. that diminishes it just a bit.

so that's an issue. if you look at how the campaign plays out, i think that will be one of the major deciding factors in this election, which i think is very close. and that is the enthusiasm level that each candidate can bring to the game. can mitt romney excite republican -- the republican base, which is largely evangelical christians in iowa? kendra obama excite the democratic base? barack obama excite the democratic base? he has a challenge to excite voters in certain parts of the state. i think he has an edge because the democratic race is kind of desperate to hold on to a presidency -- the democratic base.

i feel the republicans are having trouble exciting their base. host: jim is on the line. caller: i'm calling from dubuque, iowa. i'm in the first district and we have seen a huge shift over the last six months with the enthusiasm you described, the gap between republicans and democrats. there's two things i'm really interested in hearing from you about. with all the polling on social issues at stake in this election, which includes women's choice and the pro-life issue, or religious liberties. what i can tell you what we're seeing in the first district is a huge surge in women, especially catholic women who are changing their minds about voting like they did in 2008. i'm also interested in finding out if you can expand a little

bit on the logic behind the des moines register for the first time in 40 years supporting a republican candidate. thank you. guest: thank you. by the way, i will be dubuque taking our grandkids to the water park, so i will enjoy your lovely city. i don't know why? the des moines register decided the way they did. but this is an election that i think has energized women voters. i don't think it is a blanket issue. i don't think women voters will be energized to vote one way or the other. but i think women voters are energized. women voters on both sides of all issues that affect women understand that there is a pretty stark choice in this election and that they understand. they need understand. so i -- so i think they understand

they need to vote. i feel both candidates have convinced women this is an election they will be affected. the things that affect women will be affected by which candidate wins this election, in other words. there will be real concrete change. so they are energized. typically, i would say, in most elections that would favor democrats, because women tend to vote more democratic than men do. if we will see how it plays out. host: the front page of the des moines register from a few days ago attracted attention because of the way it portrays president obama and the way it portrayed governor romney, showing president obama in one light and governor romney in another. tell us about the fallout from this. guest: had i been the photo editor of the newspaper, i would not have picked those photographs. i felt those photographs gave a message. if you look at the front page,

you got a feeling the newspaper was trying to present a positive image of romney and of a negative image of obama. everybody i've spoken to has given me the same kind of feedback. it was a mistake for the newspaper to do that, a poor choice of gore made that decision. host: how much of the candidates visiting your state,, are the candidates visiting your state? how much attention is iowa getting on the ground? guest: all the attention we can handle. both candidates are here routinely several times a week, both of them, along with surrogates and along with their. running their there's not a single day that goes by in the state where we don't have a visit from a candidate, running mate, or significance forget. both candidates have made iowa a focal point.

there are about nine states that are swing states right now. this is where i think the dynamic of this election lies. mitt romney has to win all nine of them to get to 273. he's behind in seven, including iowa. so they are fighting in this very small set of battleground states, because they will be the ones to decide the election. right now mitt romney has a talent, because he has to win all those swing states, i think. host: let's listen to governor romney recently talking about jobs. [video clip] >> when we do those five things, this economy will. come will. we will create 12 million new jobs in four years. we will see rising take-home pay. if we will get america oppose the economy growing at 4% per year, more than double this year's rate. after all the false promises of recovery and all the waiting, we will finally see help for

america's middle class. host: that was mitt romney in iowa on friday. let's hear from richard in milwaukee, wisconsin on the democratic line. caller: good morning, c-span, and good morning mr. glover. i have a question on the associated press. where do you get your polling from? at work we have 90 people and last week we took our own polling. that was in a secret ballot. everybody said that they never got calls in the last 30 days, calls from anybody. so we took our own secret ballot. obama comes out with 77 people. so that is my question. thank you. guest: well, thank you. by the way, i will be in milwaukee a couple weeks after the election. it's one of my favorite cities. so i enjoy taking a call from up here. if we do bowling and we have a polling firm contract with that

does are pulling. we have a sample of 700 people nationwide, so not everybody gets a phone call. our polling is done in conjunction with other news organizations. but we don't do as much poling as other news organizations do, because our feeling is that if you spend a lot of money on pulling a, you are not spending a lot of money on other things such as actually covering the news. as a news organization, we think our resources are to be spent on going out talking to people, listening to candidates, talking about what they're saying on the campaign trail, and reflecting that. so we put less emphasis on poland and other news organizations, something i support. host: independence day on twitter writes -- our guest mike glover officially retired from the associated

press in may, continues to write extensively for the wire service. he has interviewed almost every major presidential candidate over 30 years. the new york times has a focus on battleground states from this weekend. it says -- how significant is this not just in terms of the number of apparel votes but in terms of symbolism? guest: i don't think you can underestimate that. you have to understand that when barack obama ran for the democratic nomination for president, was running against hillary clinton. at the beginning of the campaign, the assumption was hillary clinton would be the nominee. she's the wife of a former president, she's better known, but barack obama was a freshman akaka long shot.

so the assumption was hillary clinton would be the nominee. when barack obama came to ottawa, he worked obama hard -- to iowa. i bumped into him at the check- in desk of the holiday inn on. bar andlet's go in the have a beer, do the interview now. so we did. he bought. we did the interview there. a few years later, i got an invitation to the white house holiday reception for the press corps. i remember looking around the white house and thinking, he's come a long way from that bar in sioux city. barack obama understand that i will put him on the path to that nomination. had he not one in iowa unexpectedly, he would not be

where he is today. he understands that. he is back here often. he keeps in touch with people. he understands that i was put him on the path of where he is today. host: michigan honor democrats line. caller: thank you for c-span. i really enjoy it. how accurate do you think that polling is, like the one gentleman had just talked about? how do you think the iowa people feel about a candidate that on a lot of issues and changes his mind, going back and forth? how do you think that affects the voters in iowa? god bless america, c-span, and everybody have a good day.

guest: my wife is from michigan. i love it there. we go at least twice a year. i would voters tend to punish candidates who are not consistent on the issues. they understand the issues and follow things closely. more than voters in any other state i have been italy, and i have been in all 50 covering politics, they follow the elections closely and tend to understand where the candidates are on issues and they tend to make decisions based on where the candidates are on issues. one. i see is very damaging and that is to change positions on a significant issue in the middle of the campaign. they do not talk about it a lot, but they understand it and they tend to not like it. in iowa, if you are a candidate

and you are anti-abortion or pro-choice, voters recognize that and will make decisions based on that, but one thing they will do on both sides of the issue is you change that position in the middle of the campaign, they will punish you for it. switching more stance on the issue is not something that is healthy in iowa politics. host: mike glover joining us from the morning. thank you so much. we will continue our discussion on i loved. coming up next, we're going to be joined by sue dvorsky -- discussion on iowa. we'll be right back.

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cyber domain as a new domain of war. what they're trying to do in this series is try to take pieces and explain the fundamentals. the plutonic idea is everyone from my mom and dad, congress, and people around the country can understand. maybe this will start a process of coming up with ways to defend cyberspace matter. >> cyberspace vulnerability tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on "the communicator's." as we approach election day, c- span is asking middle and high school students to send a message. what's the most important issue the president should consider in 2013? the grand prize is $5,000. the student ca videom competition is open to students grade 6-12. find out more at studentcam.org.

host: sue dvorsky is the chairman of the iowa democratic party and she joins us this morning from the morning to talk about her state -- des moines. all four i one newspapers are backing mitt romney. what does this mean for you and your efforts? >> i know mike just talked about this. it really does not have any impact at all on the organizations on the ground. a lot of this is it sound in theory, but it really does not impact us. as of last night, we had 157,000 numbers and it really does not have an impact on these young people and these thousands of volunteers and unstaffed.

host: tell us more about the ground game your conducting in iowa. guest: we have always known this was going to be a close election. we have been building this infrastructure for more than two years to withstand the weight of this. we have 67 field offices. this is an unprecedented field organization, a partnership between the president's campaign in the iowa democratic party. in each of those 67 the offices, station locations for the get out the vote weekend and they represent tens of thousands of volunteers and activists working out of those offices. the president is using those offices for congressional campaigns also. the senate races and the state house races, so this is a wall to wall, top to bottom effort.

it's going to work well in our legislative races and it's working well in congressional and presidential races. president host: hit the crucial 50% threshold in iowa. -- host: teh president hit the 50% thresho9ld. what do you think? guest: there is always an obsessive look at these. at the end of the day, the president has held this leave the entire way. we opened the first office in august 2011. this lead is not going. i believe it will be very difficult to lose the president's lead. it is a steady lead and it has been the entire way.

we have the privilege and the responsibility of during these last two years while the republican nominating process was moving forward, we are first in the nation, so we have been watching this process very closely since january 2011. during that time, we know who our nominee was. we were behind our nominee. we have had all those months to build. we did not have to wait until june to wait to see who the nominee would be. we moved from caucus to convention smoothly. we brought along every one of those steps bringing more and more of the infrastructure into play. that has been our task and we have executed it to take the weight of these next eight days. host: sue dvorsky is chair of the iowa democratic party. if you would like to join the

conversation, we have a special phone line set up for iowa residents. republicans can call -- democrats can call -- and independents -- sue dvorsky, talk to us about the state of iowa, a key. the democrats have to win an election night in order to be victorious. break down for us. guest: we have gone from 5 to four congressional districts and we are split up into quadrants. as we go around the horn, but the congressional district that is first, we have nearly all of our incumbent state senators. i know that the focus here is the national focus on the president's campaign, but it's

incredibly important to know that the president is not on that ballot alone. here in iowa, we have a one-seat democratic senate majority that we believe is standing between a very aggressively decisive social agenda promulgated by the house republicans for the last two years very much mirroring the federal conversation. those incumbent senators are nearly all italy that congressional district. in that district -- they are nearly all in that congressional district. everyone is working together and are working hard to work with the senate candidates who are all out there talking about a balanced approach to problem- solving and economic development that is very much the same message the president is delivering.

in the second district, it is the same kind of dynamic where he has a democratic edge but it is an all new district and he is working incredibly hard. mike referenced another county which is now in a different congressional district. i can tell you he has been in that county nearly 200 times in the last year-and-a-half talking to new voters. he is the president's secret weapon there. that is a remarkably robust field operation there. there is one thing that i will respectfully disagree with a little bit on. stephen king and tom were strung together. they moved to that district in order to not have to run against congressman king. that is the case that there are

two incumbent congressman. the third district in iowa is in the middle of the country in the middle of the state and it is nearly evenly split. registration-wise. it is such a swing district. leonard has represented either in the iowa senate or the congress better than i think 12 of the 16 counties. he has that kind of edge there where people know him. mike talked about the turnout effort in pulte county. i can guarantee you that's democrats in every campaign there will be marching in. then we have this incredible rates in the fourth district. steve king, who has made a national reputation as a spokesperson for the face of the tea party wing of the republican party, the former first lady,

christie vilsack, has a very recognizable name. she has been up there for year- and-a-half talking about a local message for those counties bursa's the kind of national grandstanding. right now, she is running against a longtime incumbent, although he is not an incumbent in that district. the 39 counties in that district and congressman king has already represented 19 of them. his brand is pretty much baking a cake. it's hard for him to back off some of the rhetorical flourishes he has used. we have an incredibly interesting races underneath the president. host: sue dvorsky, chairman of the iowa democratic party. republican caller. good morning. caller: i watch the sunday news shows to try to get all sides of

the issues. i would like to know what kind of impact on iowa voters is the white house cover-up of the bank of the terror attacks happening -- having? guest: the morning. i know this i know quite slamming into you, but i hope that all of your sick on the east coast. the very complicated set of circumstances, both in been gauzy and libya in general in the part of the world, i really believe that those not lend itself to easy politicizing and cheap 32nd shots. i may state party chair. i have no information other than what you have, rose mary. i understand this is being

viewed at three different prisons for you and i. what i have observed there is an incredibly complicated set of facts on the ground changing some of those early days minute by minute. i do not believe that this has been a cover-up. what i believe is that in our rush to fill in a 24-7 news cycle in a highly politicized environment, as the white house and the state department has collected informations, they have gotten it to the american public as soon as they could. host: angie in jacksonville, fla., good morning. go ahead. last check? moving on to barbara. are you with us? go ahead. you are on the air. caller: 1 americans wake up on

november 7th, they need to make the right choice to reelect president obama as the president of this great country. they have the corporations' buying and running their country. they will regret their choices forever. every day that this president has done until now and everything he will do after he has inherited this, bankruptcy of the whole country from his own party. these guys have shipped off the jobs to foreign countries. i lived through that. i have been a refugee all my life. host: sue dvorsky, any response

to that caller? guest: there are a few important points that you bring up. i do believe that voters in florida, iowa, and voters across the country understand the depth of what this president and his team faced when they came in. today is the anniversary of the crash of 1929. the dow did not come back to its pre-1929 levels until 1954. that is what a depression looks like. that is what this president, his policies, his team, that is what they prevented. i do believe that americans are looking very carefully at where we were, the direction, and the

path that we are wrong. i think that is the critical pieces. we're working very hard here in iowa and i know my counterparts are working very hard with people who believe as you do, in florida, to make sure that this past -- this past continues to be a path of a steady, stable recovery. grassley i was elect and harkin? -- how can iowa elect them? neither of them are up for reelection, but what world to the plate? guest: if i could do that, i would quit this gig and write a political science book and i would go down and live by angie

in florida. it is the case that for better than 30 years, it was not just republican and democrat. i suspect the point of this question is that it is grassley and harkin. is safe and fair to say that they both represent the core beliefs of their two parties. this is what we call a truce wednesday. that is how this state operates. -- this is a true swing state. it is not the case when barack obama wins these electoral votes, this will not turn i will blue. -- i know what will not turn blue. his victory will ensure a retention and expansion of the state senate majority which will bring house seats and it is part

of a strategy that actually can put us on a possible path to win all four congressional seats. two years from there will be another battle to hold those gains. this is a very independent- minded state. we are not split east and west. it is really in the four corners. they are absolutely the face of this thing. host: barbara, and dependent caller, the morning. -- independent caller. caller: i did not vote for obama or mccain in 2008. i could have. sarah palin scared the daylights out of me. barack obama has a record. at every turn he has fought very

hard to get unemployment benefits extended for people who are out of work. i saw that. when the gulf oil spill next up, he fought very hard to get bp in there and to take care of the people in those areas. i'm not hearing the democrats expand on this. to my view, and i am an independent, he has done a very good job of taking care of all of the people on every issue. it is not just the economy. it is improving. i can go to a store in michigan every day now and see a help wanted sign.

guest: barbara, i appreciate you outlining that so clearly from the point of the deal of an independent voter. i do believe that the president has acted in what he believes was the best interest of the american people. that has not always been popular in my own party. in this very rapid news cycle, i think we tend to forget where people come from. he made the decision on the auto industry rescue and how it would be structured because he truly believe that it was in the best interests of an entire sector, not just in michigan, ohio, indiana, but entire sector of the upper midwest. he made that decision and it flew in the face of a lot of resistance. he has talked about education issues that have not always been

popularly received by sectors of my own party. he did that because he truly believes he is leading the american people from the metal out. -- middle out. i thing that is why the other side likes to throw around these political science work like socialism. in reality, he has been quite moderate and he has stayed a steady course with his guiding principle of problem solving. i think that does appeal to independent voters. that is what the data is showing as. last summer, i could sit here and say what i have here now is data.

those 67 field offices, that's just not a number that's impressive. those are places full of people to go out and talk. this is about talking to the independent voters. i think this a balanced approach with everyone giving a little bit and playing by the same rules, this is a message that resonates for people. it is a message for iowa. it is not a way of life here. as mike said, they are fairly independent voters. they do not want to take about their government that much. i think we are looking at this

right now. when a crisis happens, this is when governments function is so clearly illustrated. i believe that message is resonating with independent voters. thank you for stadium much more eloquently than i can. host: as you point out, you say unaffiliated party voters remain the largest bloc in iowa.

have you lost ground in terms of registered voters? guest: we registered 3500 new voters in august. that may not sound like a lot, but this is a highly registered state. the numbers come out the end of this week, i think. we are on a pass in three months to virtually erased that advantage that to the republicans' three election cycles to do. it's important to remember that the republicans had a highly competitive governor primary in 2010, which was a huge opportunity for them to register. our effort there was turnout. the next opportunity for the republicans was this long, drawn-out caucus season where many campaigns were here.

they were here registering voters. we have our nominee. we will be building those organizations. the spring primaries, there was a record number of legislative primaries against republicans from the own right to move further to the right. as i said, we started registering young people. that's a big base for us. students and young people who were living in this state in 2008 who is subsequently moved. if you look carefully at it, this is not a function of democratic voters moving to the republican party. i do think that the important number is turning out to the registered voters are. again, as i said, we have a remarkable advantage. we are breaking records from

2008. that was the high water mark. the republicans who are also doing very well relative to their numbers in 2008 on early voting basically, on a day-by- day basis, they are not closing that gap. host: he has visited the state 15 times as president, 10 times this year. mitt romney was in aimes just on friday. but listen to what he had to say. [video clip] >> this economy is going to come roaring back and we will create 12 million new jobs. we will see a rise in take-home pay. we will get the economy going up 4% per year, double this year's rates. after all the false promises of recovery, we're going to see help for america's middle class. host: sue dvorsky, your response?

guest: two years ago, running on a platform of 200,000 new jobs and a median income of $50,000 and a chicken in every pocket. we have seen the disparity in this kind of rhetorical flourish, if you will. when romney through the numbers out there and then talks about false promises, i do not think it sells here. i do not think about -- think people believe in this. the president has put us on a pass. the president has a record of achievement, not a set of overblown promises they really do not have any numbers behind them. there is still no explanation for independent economists questioned about this $5 trillion whole. there is no explanation

forthcoming from governor romney about where those jobs would come from. there is no explanation for that passage. but there is at 4.5 million new jobs created by the policies this president has instituted. there are better than 30 months of consecutive job growth. there are record numbers of manufacturing jobs coming back. we are at a higher point than we were at the beginning of the bush presidency. i think you have a record obverses rhetoric. honestly, we will stand on that record. host: sue dvorsky is chairwoman of the tie with democratic party. thank you so much for your time. guest: thank you. host: next, we will check in with the republican side of things with a.j. spiker, chairman of the iowa republicans. we will be right back.

[video clip] >> you can embrace the kind of approach that congresswoman wilson has embraced, this support to back cut, cap, and balance from the tea party. it has no new revenues. it is so draconian that it would require deep cuts in social security and medicare over time.

i think we can go back to the top tax rate we had when the upper income earners were doing well in the anti-iraq economy was growing. a balanced approach is the only approach that i believe will get us there. >> your rebuttal? >> you can stand here having voted for trillion dollar debt this is the last four years. the largest, fastest that increase in american history and say that we have to control spending. you have done nothing to control spending over the last four years. with respect to cut, cap, and balance, it is amazing that the idea of taxing the ability of congress to spend money we do not how and balancing the budget is extreme. i think it would force congress to set priorities and stop funding things like solyndra and start prioritizing things like social security and

education which is why i support a balanced budget amendment. >> this is just one of the key races you can follow one sees parent, cs been radio, and c- span.org/campaign2012. host: a.j. spiker of is chairman of the iowa republican party. "the hill" says president obama has a four point lead in iowa. what is your response? guest: my reaction as iowa will be much closer than that. it will come down to 15,000 votes one way or another on election vote. romney is spending a tremendous amount of time in iowa and he is positioned to win. of host: tell us about your ground game. what is your presence?

guest: we have offices all over the state of iowa. what we're doing is identifying independent voters that lane republican and get them to the polls. we have the largest ground game that we have had in the state of iowa. the number of a door knocks and telephone calls outpace what we did in 2008 and we're doing a great job of getting people out. host: talked less about the role early voting will play. "the new york times" points out early voting was a great boon for obama. he still carried the state because of the ones that he bank dearly. -- banked early. guest: early and absentee voting is something that the republicans are behind, but we outperform them on election day.

we have seen tremendous gains in early and absentee voting and i believe we are well-positioned to win on election day. the effort we have put in this year with early and absentee voting will make a difference in putting us over the top. host: what kind of numbers do you need, a.j. spiker? as of last tuesday, there was a lead in requesting and returning ballots. guest: what we really need is people to be voting. getting the republican base to vote and getting those independents who lean republican to vote is really the key. we do want them to vote early and absentee if possible, but republicans historically do like going to the polls on election day and pulling that lever. historically, that is how

republicans like to vote. orlando absentee is important, but we have a very large number of people who like to go on election day. host: allow residents can give us a call -- iowa residents can give us a call. the numbers are on your screen. with the the republican appeal to unaffiliated voters in your state? the bloc still remains the largest. what is your message to them? guest: our message is jobs and the economy. this economy has been the president has been focused on other things other than getting america back on track. gasoline is over $3 per gallon. in rural ireland, that is a

tremendous strain -- in rural iowa, that is a strain. some of them drive 40-50 round trip earning $8 an hour and they're being heard especially hard in the obama economy. our message is focusing on jobs and the economy and getting the economy put back on track. host: frederick, md., independent scholar. good morning. caller: i have been watching the campaign. i call this usually politics as usual. in the second debate, when i heard the president say, " governor, the day after the bentos the incidence i told the american people and it was an act of terror -- the benghazi incident, i told them it

was an act of terror." why did he allow the press secretary or the u.n. ambassador to say that it was not? the vice-president in his debate said that they did not know. it just struck me that he should have jumped up immediately and said he knew it was an act of terror. guest: great question. unfortunately, the white house has not been particularly clear with the american people from the beginning on this issue. i think the american people deserve a little more clarity from the president. if they do not know something is an act of terror or if they do know, they need to be clear with the american people. they could have come out immediately and said they were investigating, but they came out and said it was not an act of terror. by doing that, they really

misled the american people. the american people deserve better from the white house. host: maverick on twitter. guest: the tea party is affected voting in iowa to a degree. it probably was not as strong there is it was in some other states. we have more of an evangelical presence within the party here that maybe has more influence, but there are a lot of tea party activists that are involved and engaged in working to put not only romney but our congressional candidates over the top. we also have some tea party people running for state house and senate races. those people are engaged. faugh-- we do not have as big

as the presence of other states. host: she does not think it the des moines endorsement of a mitt romney will hold much sway. what is your stance on if this sways opinion, a.j. spiker? guest: he also got "the sioux city journal" and "the cedar rapids gazette." he ran the table for major endorsements in iowa. when you're talking about a race that's only going to come down to 15,000 votes one way or another, everything counts. receiving the endorsement does have an impact. it's something that will help

him. deputyet's hear what the campaign manager from president obama had to say on abc's "this week." [video clip] >> it was a little surprising to read that editorial because it did not seem to be based in reality on either of their record. it said romney reached across the aisle and that's the exact opposite of what he did in massachusetts. over these last six years, he has never once stood up to the far extreme right wing. just this past week, he would not take his ads down for mourdock who now has famous, is that it is god's will if you get pregnant through rape. if you're going to work across the aisle, that's just nonsense. in terms of newspaper endorsements, we feel good her bare where we are.

we have "the pittsburgh post- gazette," "the minneapolis star tribune," "the miami herald." i could go on. people are wanting a second terminal on the presidency. host: that was the obama deputy campaign director yesterday on abc. a.j. spiker chairman of the iowa republican party, what is your response? guest:soudns like spin to me. the white house clearly expected to get "the des moines register" and a lot of people in iowa were expecting it, so that was a tremendous shock to politicos that the register endorsed romney. i would further say the amount of spin on this is just unreal. host: chris, democrats line,

michigan. caller: i just recently switched to the democratic party. i had been an independent. i decided i would rather vote for president obama. when my son had to join the military, he is a very bright person. he decided if anyone was going to benefit from his hard work he would rather it be his nation. another bonus is that there is no prejudice there. he is given an equal opportunity for as much effort as he gives. i recently saw on the c-span a general speaking talking about how iud's are the number one killer of our troops. president

obama listens to his generals and, from what i understand, he is giving them a blank check to fight against iud's. guest: thank you. first of all, i want to think your son for his service to the country. i appreciate the service of all veterans. you can be assured that barack obama and ronny both care very much about the military and our troops, but i want to make it clear that ronny will do everything and provide everything that is needed to the armed forces to make sure they have every tool that they need when they are deployed overseas. host: 1 and to respond to one of the previous callers about demons benghazi. -- one off of twitter to

respond about benghazi. the conclusion says romney's comments he made in a debate was false. he described them as an act of terror in the two days. host: several times, -- guest: several times the obama administration said it was a protest that got out of hand.

host: jacksonville, fla., the independent line. go-ahead. caller: midmorning, thank you. the question for the chair person is why did canted it romney -- candidate romney go in and talk about relocating to china and never retracted the statement or said anything about it being wrong. any time he makes a misstatement, he never tries to correct it. guest: i did not get that question. what was that? host: a.j. spiker, can you talk about jobs and china? the concern he was raising about

the truth telling about that. guest: the president has not been for with china with both the currency manipulation, copyright and trademark violation on a regular basis. we need a president who will be firm with china and make sure they're playing by the rules of we're going to have free and fair trade with other nations. we need to make sure it's a level playing field so that we can compete. we know that american workers are most the productive, efficient workers in the world. when there is a level playing field, we can out work every other country. mitt romney is committed to making sure that playing field local so we can make sure that jobs are here that should be here. host: 1 story from cbs news said this had hit romney on china. it is challenging him and

accusing him of outsourcing jobs. it rebuts his claims that he would stand up to host: is a volatile spot on him? is he week are in china? guest: the president has been extremely weak on china and the past four years have proven it. as far as outsourcing jobs, the president ever stimulus bonds outsourced thousands of american jobs and money that was borrowed against the american taxpayer was also outsourced. looking at fisker automotive, those jobs went overseas. this president has been a failure when it comes to making

sure jobs stay in the united states and protecting us against currency manipulation. host: from iowa, mason city, independent. good morning. caller: there was a caller a few minutes ago from louisiana with a different guest talking about the campaign. basically, he said that they were laundering money coming from foreign countries going to the democrats. how come nobody is talking about the fiscal cliff? there was a two-hour special about that coming up.

the lady about the military needs to be reminded about the cut in defense spending that will happen on january 1st. it's a very expensive one. host: do you have concerns about the fiscal cliff? caller: is scarce the daylights out of me. host: president obama said in the last debate he does not think it's going to happen. caller: they're trying to whitewash it. it's a really thin layer. host: a.j. spiker, your response. guest: the fiscal cliff is not only the biggest threat to the united states from an economic standpoint, a social values standpoint, but also the biggest threat from a global perspective. if this country gets in a

position, we are already in a place where the democratic president led us to over $16 trillion in debt. that happened during the democratic amassed a convention. this cliff israel. interest rates the up and it will become a situation where the united states is either unable to pay its obligations or we will be forced to raise taxes on the american people. i do not think there's anyone out there who thinks the american people can afford to have their taxes raised. it's a very bad thing we are dealing with right now. we're headed towards the worst position on this president and facing a $1 trillion per year spending deficit and it's not sustainable. if you cut almost every program domestically, you would not even come close to cutting the $1 trillion you would need to cut per year.

the main thing we need to do is get the american people back to work so that they are productive members of the economy, paying taxes, and we can eliminate this shortfall. if we don't do that, we are facing a real situation with the country can face economic armageddon. host: a.j. spiker, the iowa house incumbents, are they facing a backlash or concerns over the low poll ratings for congress over the nation? talk about the house races for us. guest: iowa republicans are in a great position to take all four seats. it is a strong race. very well and polling very well, working very hard. the fiscal cliff and the unpopularity of congress, even

though it is extremely low, when it comes down to what you think of your congressman, of those numbers do not seem to reflect what the national mood is dwarfed the congress. the fiscal cliff, the republican candidates are very serious when they say their number one goal of getting this country back on track and putting the american people back to work. host: does the board, california. -- modesto. caller: nancy pelosi said there were still boring to be in charge of the house in 2010 so let the republicans spent all they want. as far as benghazi, he said "act of terror" in passing. this is a cover up. they did not want the american

people to know this was an act of terror under his watch. this guy has lied, allied, lied, and wide. what about gay marriage? what about during all this stuff right before the election. all of a sudden, he's gone to let all of these immigrants today -- get a free pass. we are not stupid. this was all done for political gain. we should get this guy got because he should have never been there in the first place. host: a.j. spiker, a caller brought up emigration. this is from the cnn political tinker. these are comments that relate to your neck of the woods. his plans were given in an off the record interview and made public only after they protested that leaving a private would be a disservice. what are your thoughts about immigration and how it might affect the vote in iowa d?

guest: if the president was serious about reform, he would have gotten at dawn. he had the house and senate under his role the first term and he was more focused on passing obamacare and cramming for his socialist agenda. how'd he wanted to focus on things like emigration, jobs, the economy, the president could have done it. instead chose to focus on big government programs to put this nation even further in debt and put our future even more at risk. host: off twitter. guest: the jobs he will create -- remember, presidents do not create jobs, but the environment that is created during a business-friendly culture in government creates the jobs.

when you have a government that is cost ireland put in reckitt -- regulations that kill jobs, but puts out a scenario where people do not want to expand or grow their businesses, but under the ronny presidency, i think you will see the market place open up more. -- under a mitt romney presidency, the marketplace will open up more. insurance is a big sector in des moines. jobs in general, when you create the environment that people are willing to invest, they will invest in the jobs will be created. host: salem, ore., democratic line. caller: midmorning. my question to the gentleman is somehow they misplace the eight years that george bush was in office.

they seemed to disregard everything that happened during that period it just never happened. it all began under the obama administration. it just astounds me how the whole platform is based on george bush's policies. this 12 million at job creation is, again, just the smoke and mirrors. they use this every time they run. bush said he would lower taxes, create jobs. the tea party said they were born to create jobs. it seems like the same rhetoric over and over again. guest: great question, doug. i was critical of the bush presidency. we funded things like no child left behind. we created prescription drug

programs in the not pay for them. the american people held the republican party responsible for it and threw them out of office. they are focused on creating jobs, growing the economy, and not focusing on big spending programs we know the american people do not want. you have the commitment of republicans that are no. 1 jobs focus will be on the economy. host: a.j. spiker, the chair of the iowa republican party joining us this morning from des moines. we will continue our series on "washington journal" on battleground states tomorrow with ohio. for those of you interested on the presidential campaign trail, the press secretary says he will no longer travel to green bay tomorrow but he will stay in washington, d.c., to stay in washington, d.c., to closely